


Old Curiosity Shop

by lost_spook



Category: Bagpuss, Sapphire and Steel
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Obscure & British
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-20
Updated: 2013-05-20
Packaged: 2017-12-12 10:17:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/810441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lost_spook/pseuds/lost_spook
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sapphire and Steel investigate a very odd old shop...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Old Curiosity Shop

**Author's Note:**

> For JJPOR's prompt: Sapphire & Steel/Bagpuss, any and all characters you like, broken things in the Obscure & British commentfest.

“Don’t they realise the danger?”

Sapphire looked around the tiny, old-fashioned shop. A shop that was never open, yet never entirely closed; a shop that was full of old and broken things waiting to be mended.

Then she glanced back over at Steel, who was currently holding up a soft toy, a saggy cloth cat with pink and white stripes. She didn’t give him an answer, knowing he didn’t need one; she just smiled to herself at the sight.

“Sapphire?”

He was waiting for her verdict now, as she trailed her fingers along the few shelves, and touched the rag doll in the chair and the green stuffed toy with the banjo that she thought must be a frog or a toad.

“Why is any of this here?” Steel asked. “It’s worn out – rubbish. All of it would be better thrown away and replaced.”

“Replaced by new items, items with no past, no history – no dangerous associations.”

Steel turned to her, evidently catching the edge to her tone, not quite mockery, but almost, a challenge perhaps.

“Items that have never been loved,” she finished and gave him a smile.

“It would be safer.”

Sapphire paused at the small mouse organ, touching the carved mice. She frowned and looked around her again.

“What is it?”

“It’s not quite what it seems. Yes, the items are a potential problem, as we thought, but that’s not all.”

Steel waited as she picked up a tiny wooden box and put it down again. He turned away and picked up one of the books and flicked through it.

Sapphire let her hand come to rest on the carved wooden bookend – a woodpecker with glasses. That amused her. 

“There’s some more – something worse?”

Sapphire turned around to face him. “No. The shop – it’s almost as if it’s containing the items, perhaps even disarming them. They’re brought here and their stories are heard and then they are mended – made as good as new again.”

“Here?” said Steel, swinging around in a circle so sharply that she didn’t know how he avoided dislodging some of the artefacts. “That seems… unlikely.”

Sapphire stepped towards him. “I think we should leave. We don’t want to damage whatever is at work in here. It feels fragile – a thread we could easily break, and we mustn’t.”

“Why not?” said Steel, glancing about again, as if in search of any literal threads he could snap, just in case.

Sapphire bit back amusement and put a hand to his arm. She tilted her head to one side and raised an eyebrow at him.

“Are you sure?” Steel gave the place one last suspicious stare.

Sapphire nodded. “Someone should probably keep an eye on it, of course.”

“Yes.” That seemed to satisfy Steel. “They should send a technician. Give them something to do for once.”

Sapphire didn’t think a technician would make much sense of Bagpuss & Co either, but she only laughed and nodded. She thought to herself that the power in this shop came back to something that was more her field than that of a specialist. She thought it was love: a quiet, patient, lasting love that filled the place and safely contained the artefacts within its walls. 

“Sapphire?”

She took Steel’s hand, but didn’t try to explain. It would be amusing to attempt, she thought, but it would probably only cause him to regard the shop as a threat again and she was convinced it was nothing of the kind. 

Before they left, Sapphire turned back, and carefully replaced the toy cat on its cushion, stroking its rough, worn fur as she did so. It seemed, she felt, to be the right thing to do.


End file.
